Email
marketing is predicted to remain relatively stable through 2010 and into
2011 which is great news because it's efficient and effective! But
email marketing only works if you can actually get them to open up and
read your email.

Subject lines determine whether you'll categorized as, "read me," "irrelevant," "spam," or "delete me." Here are six tips to get you into the "READ ME" category.

#1 Factor: "WIIFM" - What's in it
for me? (WIIFM) should be considered for all aspects of your email
campaign, including copy, offer and subject. Remember, "It's all about
them."

Ask a question
- Get a reader's attention quickly by posing a question. Relevant
questions work well but unusual, surprising questions can be very
effective at getting attention if you've been sending to the same list
for an extended period. A surprising question can "shake things up," and
get them to take notice.

Tease to please
- Pique their curiosity with a clever and enticing subject line. A
"teaser" subject line can be incredibly effective but you have to to tie
it into your content or you'll lose credibility.

Size matters
- There is great debate of the optimum length of subject lines but it
seems most agree shorter subject lines work better with 5-10 words or
40-60 characters as a guideline.

Personal = effective - Make your recipient feel like you're speaking directly to them. The three little letters Y-O-U work like magic.

Just the facts Jack - Sometimes it's best to just tell it like it is. Tell them exactly what you want them to know.

We've tested many headlines over the years and our latest newsletter returned our biggest open rate ever:

"Will you marry me? DCom ENews"

It posed a teasing question: Will you marry me? Points #2 and #3,

It was personal using the word YOU, point #5,

It was short at 6 words (23 letters), point #4,

It added the facts, DCom E-News, point #6, and

It identified a WIIFM factor, point #1, by indicating it as an E-Newsletter with information.

Open rate? 22.2% higher than ANY other e-news we've ever sent since way back to 2007!

Moral
of this article? Crafting your subject line can impact your open rate
and ultimately your leads and sales. Give it the time it deserves and
craft it with care.

Test your subject line

Try out the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) - Headline Line Analyzer before you send out your next email.

Our
last e-news rated a 50% and this e-tip rated a 75%. Doesn't sound
great, but for comparison, most professional copywriters' headlines will
have 30%-40% EMV Words in their headlines, while the most gifted copywriters will have 50%-75% EMV words in headlines.

A perfect score would be 100%, but that is rare unless your headline is less than five words.